RANDOM LENGTHS NEWS
Niklor, which produces chloropicrin and mixes it with methyl bromide for agricultural and fumigation purposes, has been operating as a "non-conforming use" facility since 1977 and was officially notified of a seven-year timetable to vacate the premises in 1990. As the deadline approached last year, the company began to push for a six year extension, primarily on the basis of the fact, according to Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) activist Yuki Kitokoro, that "environmentalists in both the present location and Kern County have encouraged the mandation of an EIR [Environmental Impact Report] for the new location, where the company had hoped it would be overlooked."
By the April 7 meeting, Niklor had whittled its request to three years, and insisted in its testimony that any less would be the ruination of the company. The 22 people who spoke on behalf of the company and the Wilhelm family, which has owned it for generations, placed great emphasis in their testimonies on the upstanding moral character of the family itself, as well as the adequate safety record of the plant and the "basic necessity" of their product (methyl bromide will be banned in 2001 for its detrimental effects on the ozone layer). Professor Gary Cole of CSU Dominguez set the tone for the arguments of the citizenry with his opening statement, which noted, to the wide approval of the packed City Hall that "Bhopal, India only happened once."
Activists were very skeptical going in, fully expecting the watered-down three year extension proposal to be accepted by the Council. It was widely acknowledged that negotiations had been going on behind closed doors, the results of which were implied by the city planning commission's decision to support the proposal. However, as testimony wore down and the Council began to discuss the matter amongst themselves, it began to appear that things were not so set in stone. One council member spoke to contest the generally accepted (by both sides) status of Southern California Air Quality Management Department (SCAQMD) support for the company, pointing out, in a statement from that body, that tests had still not confirmed the harmlessness of the emissions from the plant. Secondly, L.A. lawyer Todd Littleworth's contention--that by law Niklor had to provide evidence it had not been able to "amortize its fixed investment" in order to warrant extension--seemed to hold weight. Niklor, a $5 million company begun in Carson in 1969 on an investment of $73,000, had little to say on the matter. But all told, the most damning evidence may have been that not one of the expansive Wilhelm family, which was represented in great number at the meeting, had ever resided in the city.
The unanimous vote to deny the appeal may be merely an opening to extensive and ugly litigation, but it clearly ruffled the family. Outside the meeting after the decision, one Wilhelm lost his cool as CBE activist Alicea Rivera congratulated her forces with a rousing speech.
"You've just blocked free enterprise!" he screamed, and had to be held back by his companions. As tensions filtered out into the night, Rivera was heard to triumphantly remark "This is what environmentalists do. "
The Carson Council must still finalize
its decision with a resolution--which is scheduled for April 21,
at Carson City Hall, 701 E. Carson St.--seeking, no doubt, to
reassure itself of the mettle of Carson community resolve.